The story of Isle of Savages starts with a charter sail hitting a reef during a violent storm. Sixteen abandon ship, only nine students and their captain and first mate make ashore what appears to be a deserted island.

The story sounds intriguing, but the execution fell short. There is real potential for this story. I hope it's updated.

My thanks to T. Briar the publisher's and Netgalley.
I just would like to say that the publisher's did this author a huge disservice from the lack of EVERYTHING! I know that authors leave messy stories. I've read too many indie author's to not know this. Yet, I've seen the bare bones and messy stories from the beginning. Then I've seen the same tale edited. Sometimes nearly rewritten. I don't like those! But this is a good story that is in dire need of an editor and a rewrite! Not to undo the guts of the story, just guidance!
For now? Sounds great! How does it read?

I went into this hoping for an updated version of Lord of the Flies, but got something else entirely. Misogyny, human trafficking, and horror style violence just weren't what I was looking for. The storyline is a bit fractured, it feels as if the author is trying to do too much with the story and I prefer a bit more depth. Just not my cup of tea.

I loved that this was an edge of the seat book almost from page one till the last. Violent and intense, with a little love story thrown in on top. A thriller that is VERY well written and develops as the pages turn. Unique characters with two strong leads that will capture your heart. The intensity starts with a brutal captain that has a hidden agenda. Things ramp up after the ship hits the reef in a horrendous storm that leaves the students on a deserted island. Exciting, intense action, extreme emotions, electrifying horror and those are just a few of the adjectives that I would use to describe the storyline that just keeps getting more involved and terrifying. Sharks, cannibals, brutal captain and no way off the island what else would keep you glued to the pages to the very end!!!! Let’s add the captain has a partner and see where he fits in!!!! I received this from the Publisher for an honest review with no other compensation.

Such wasted potential.

Isle of Savages was a book I spotted on NetGalley (thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for approving this for me) and the cover and synopsis intrigued me.

Then it all unraveled.

I'm always intrigued and excited for 'lost islands' and 'undiscovered civilizations' and these types of novels will pull me in almost as much as a horror story set in winter.

The author though fell into an all too familiar territory really quickly. The story itself is a new take on the 'lost island' narrative. A group of kids are selected to attend a sailing conference. They all get on a luxury yacht to head to this conference. Unbeknownst to them, the captain is an ex-military man who has devised a plot to sell the kids to human traffickers. But then the boat capsizes and a number of the students as well as the captain end up marooned on an unknown island that just so happens to have an undiscovered tribe of people aka the savages.

Now - to try and limit spoilers - some horrendous stuff happens on the yacht initially. The captain is a tyrant. But, the author glosses over most of the details.

Where this story really failed was the stereotyping of the characters and the back and forth between is this YA or is this extreme horror.
Throughout the entire story, the women are portrayed as weak and only capable of being saved by the male characters. They are, of course, all gorgeous, with one even described as being voluptuous but still gorgeous. As though if a female has a few extra pounds then she's automatically dog meat. The men are all heavily muscled and the author makes a point of telling us time and time again just how the muscle looks and how each sinewy section glistens. This even extends to the tribe of indigenous people on the island.

I didn't want to DNF this, because I feel a responsibility of finishing a book I'm kindly approved for on NetGalley, but if this had been anything else, I would have. I would have known exactly how this book ended without reading the ending, and when it concluded I wasn't surprised.

I really wanted to like this, but it fell into such a pattern of MAN STRONG/WOMAN WEAK that I tuned it out and found myself skimming some dialogue, simply because I didn't care anymore about hearing how the women wouldn't survive on their own.

The only saving grace here for the rating was the action was fun and as I said before, this type of tale always catches my interest.

2.5/5

Review also appears on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2714081374?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

1 star

Oh, this book is too disjointed and I didn't care for any of the characters. Sorry, it is not for me.

I want to thank NetGalley and MuseItUp Publishing for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read and review.

Quick paced (a little too quick), we land right in the middle of this disjointed tale. We follow Mia, Keri, and Eric who have been washed up on a mysterious island following and ate attempted mutiny on their vessel. A ruthless Cap’n and his ‘dog’ are in hot pursuit......will they catch them up? Something unseen is chasing all of them.
Unfortunately Briar writes with a misogynist attitude - ‘
you’ll be serving me because that’s how it works in primitive society. The man always comes first. Didn’t you pay attention in history class?’
Just one of the references in the book I could choose from.
I feel the characters were underdeveloped, lacking any depth, making it hard to attach a bond to them. I also didn’t understand the plot? This felt like a book that needed much more development. Sadly I DNF this book, and would not recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, Briar, and muscletup Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ISLE OF SAVAGES is a fast-paced adventure story filled with shipwrecks, savages, human traffickers and teenagers. While it is action-packed, I felt like ISLE OF SAVAGES was closer to a screenplay than a novel. The reader is dropped into the middle of the story, which is a good thing - it's exciting, but Briar doesn't do a good job of fleshing out the characters' backstories enough for us to care about them. Without the backstory, the main characters, both good and bad, come across as wooden and a little cartoonish. ISLE OF SAVAGES could be an excellent novel, but this reads more like a first draft with lots of room for progress.